The Swiss franc rallied this week against the US dollar and the Japanese yen. The currency has been appreciating since the second half of July. As one could expect, the franc remained flat against the euro near the ceiling level of 1.20 francs per euro.
The Swiss fundamentals were mixed this week. On the negative side, the Producer Price Index fell 0.3 percent in July, following the decline with the same rate in June. The market participants expected a drop by 0.2 percent. On the bright side, the ZEW Economic Expectations rose from -42.5 in July to -33.3 in August. It is far from optimism still, but the outlook is improving at least.
The performance of the franc has been tied to the moves of the euro since the Swiss National Bank pegged the Swiss currency to the currency of the eurozone. This week reflected that as the Swissie was rising along with the shared 17-nation currency.
The franc has been trading near the ceiling set by SNB since April, testing the resolve of the central bank to keep the currency pegged. So far, the bank was able to maintain its stance and keep the currency from breaching the resistance level. The Swissie was completely flat this week against the euro, signaling that the pressure is mounting and the Forex market attempts to drive the Swiss currency beyond the line set by the SNB.
USD/CHF fell from 0.9771 to 0.9735 and CHF/JPY advanced from 80.09 to 81.66 this week. EUR/CHF was completely flat at 1.2009.
If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the Swiss Franc,
feel free to post them using the commentary form below.